Local cops rate judges in new law-enforcement poll

Members of more than a dozen local police organizations weighed in recently on the performance of judges in Orange and Osceola counties, as part of a new poll conducted by the Orange/Osceola County Police Chief's Association.

The poll largely mirrors in style another conducted annually by the Central Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, aimed at rating judges on their fairness, professionalism and other qualities.

While the polls are similar — asking participants to rate judges numerically in several categories — the polls differ in some criteria, and also in their results.

Both polls asked participants to weigh in on the diligence, demeanor and lack of bias of each judge. But rather than legal knowledge, the police poll asked participants to weigh in on judges' fairness to victims and "protection of the public."

The latter was defined as "sentencing and bond decisions with a commitment to protecting the community within the confines of the law." Respondents also gave an overall score, which didn't have to average their other scores.

On the circuit level, the top-rated judges in Orange were Julie O'Kane and Wayne Wooten. In Osceola, the top circuit judge was Keith Carsten, with a perfect 5-out-of-5 rating in each category.

The top county court judges were James Craner in Orange and Stefania Jancewicz in Osceola. Judges popular with police didn't necessarily lead the CFADL poll, which surveyed 215 lawyers, all but 45 of them defense attorneys.

The lowest-rated judges in the police poll, neither of whom scored higher than 2 in any category, were Circuit Judge Tim Shea and County Judge Deborah Ansbro. Neither judge responded to a request for comment.

Elected in 2006, Shea has been a controversial figure on the bench, and was reprimanded by the Florida Supreme Court in September for yelling at people in his courtroom, insulting lawyers and losing his temper.

The police poll also does not solicit or publish anonymous comments, a practice for which former Orange-Osceola Chief Judge Belvin Perry has criticized the defense-attorney poll.

Perry said the new law-enforcement poll has the potential to add "a balance, to see how a judge is viewed by law enforcement," though he noted polls can be skewed if "someone has an ax to grind against an individual judge."

Apopka police Chief Robert Manley, president of the Police Chief's Association, said the first poll didn't get as much participation as the chiefs were hoping for, but said they're optimistic that will improve in subsequent editions.

"A couple of judges did call me and thank us for putting this out," Manley said, adding that the judges said "this needed to be done a long time ago." He said the feedback "reassured us that we're doing the right thing."